Evening Brief: Friday, August 19, 2016

Tonight’s Evening Brief is brought to you by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB). CCAB delivers awards that celebrate the central role Aboriginal business leaders, communities, businesses, entrepreneurs, and ambassadors have in shaping the future of Canada.
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The Lead:

We begin tonight with a small summer Friday shuffle … or what the PMO is calling an “adjustment.” Veteran New Brunswick MP and Trudeau confidant Dominic LeBlanc was replaced as government House leader this afternoon by Small Business Minister Bardish Chagger, the first woman to be named to the role. LeBlanc retains the job of fisheries minister, which he took on when Hunter Tootoo resigned in May to deal with an addiction (he has since revealed he was also having a relationship with a staffer). Chagger, the rookie MP for Waterloo, Ont., will retain the small business portfolio. Our Kyle Duggan has the full story.

Meanwhile, LeBlanc’s cabinet position is raising eyebrows in the defence sector, given his personal ties to the powerful Irving family in New Brunswick and his position in the decision-making flowchart for Canada’s shipbuilding program. Is LeBlanc in a conflict? Amanda Connolly tells us more.

In Canada:

“After shelling out almost half a million dollars for Justin Trudeau to hole up with his 30 ministers at two different luxury resorts, taxpayers will get a break this weekend when the prime minister hosts his third cabinet retreat since taking office last fall,” reports CP’s Joan Bryden. “The two-day retreat, which starts Sunday, is being held at Sudbury’s Laurentian University where the ministers will be sharing student dorms.”

Immigration Minister John McCallum says it’s best if he doesn’t say much about a Canadian imam who was jailed in Turkey shortly after last month’s failed coup. “It might not be good for him or his family if we talk about details of this case in public,” McCallum said today. CP’s Bill Graveland has that story.

In Kelsey Johnson’s Sprout blog: Ontario farmers protest expanded protections for livestock predators, plus all the other ag news you need to know.